Les médias français demandent à l'autorité de la concurrence de faire payer Google pour ses réponses fournies par l'IA.

      French media have requested that the country's competition authority regulate Google's use of artificial intelligence, submitting a complaint aimed at quantifying the value of AI-generated summaries that subtly redirect readers from the media outlets creating the original journalism. The complaint, filed by a trade association representing publishers, comes amid ongoing industry concerns regarding AI Overviews and diminishing referral traffic.

      Google's AI Overviews directly respond to user inquiries at the top of search results, compiling information from articles that the search engine has indexed, allowing readers to grasp key points without visiting the publisher's site, leaving the publisher without either the visitor or compensation for the content that enabled the answer.

      The publishers are not urging the authority to create a new solution, but rather to imitate a decision made in July against Meta, which mandated the company to create a payment plan and reengage in negotiations with traditional media seeking compensation. If applied to Google, this would require the tech giant to resume discussions it has shown little interest in and to establish a specific system for compensating the news organizations that contribute to its models.

      Google did not immediately respond to the complaint, which reflects the industry's expectation of a lack of response when financial matters and AI-generated summaries are involved.

      France is a strategic location for this dispute, as the country has spent years addressing Google's “neighbouring rights,” which pertain to the reuse of news snippets. France has previously fined Google when the two parties failed to reach an agreement, giving its regulators more leverage than most.

      This history gives the complaint more weight than similar actions elsewhere. French authorities have already determined in past instances that Google is required to negotiate in good faith and pay for the journalism it highlights. Therefore, the publishers are not presenting a theoretical argument but are instead requesting that the authority extends a precedent it has already enforced.

      The timing is also deliberate, as publishers across Europe and the U.S. have reported significant declines in clicks from search due to AI summaries that satisfy readers directly on the results page, eliminating the need to visit the source. This alarming trend has captured the attention of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

      Other regions are also taking initiatives. The U.K. has compelled Google to allow publishers to opt out of AI search results without adverse effects on their rankings, aiming to alleviate the situation where opting out of summaries previously meant disappearing from search entirely.

      Legal actions are also underway. A German court has held Google accountable for its AI Overviews, undermining the company's long-standing assertion that it simply organizes information rather than republishes it, a ruling that European regulators will review closely.

      Meanwhile, Brussels continues to exert pressure through the Digital Markets Act, and Google has already made concessions regarding news-search rankings to avert fresh fines, indicating that even minor regulatory threats can influence the situation when the stakes are sufficiently high.

      Whether the French complaint will succeed remains uncertain, as the Autorité de la concurrence will proceed cautiously, and Google will likely contest any obligation to pay for answers it claims aid traffic directed to publishers. Nonetheless, the choice of venue is strategic, the precedent is relevant, and European publishers have resolved to contest the gradual erosion of their audience before the routine of never clicking through becomes entrenched in online behavior.